The first craft brewery opened in this Southeastern city six years ago. Now it has 17 more — with 20 others in the works.

It’s not easy to live in the shadow of one of the craft beer capitals of America.

Asheville, N.C. is widely recognized as one of the hotspots of craft – arguably the hotspot in the Southeast. But 128 miles to the east, the state’s business hub and biggest city is starting to build a reputation of its own. Charlotte, N.C. isn’t a place that often springs to mind for craft beer lovers, but it’s a mistake to overlook it – for a number of reasons.

First off, the beer is good. Really good. There’s a wide variety of styles and many of them are being done well. Perhaps just as importantly, it’s convenient. Whereas most cites have breweries scattered hither and yon, typically limiting visitors to one or two, Charlotte craft brewers are largely located in one of two areas – NoDa, an arts area north of Davidson Street and South End.

“I think it’s really coming down to a neighborhood thing,” says Sarah Taylor Brigham, co-founder of Sycamore Brewing. “We’ve got some great breweries in South End. People will pick a day and do a South End brewery tour or a NoDa brewery tour. Those two areas are becoming central.”

The owners of The Olde Meck (as it’s called locally) chose Charlotte specifically because it was the biggest city in the country without a brewery – a curiosity that could be attributed to the often short-term nature of the city’s population.

“Charlotte was like Washington DC for a long time,” says Ryan Self, director of sales for The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. “It was a very buttoned up, … transient city. You didn’t have a lot of locals.”

A recent influx of people and the rise of creative hot zones like NoDA and South End have helped open the city up to brewers, but there are still challenges – specifically with distribution.

Beer makers can self distribute up to 25,000 barrels per year, but if they exceed that, they must use a separate distributor for both sales and marketing. That’s something most are reticent to do, as they don’t want their beers to be lost or de-emphasized among a much larger portfolio.

There is an ongoing fight to increase the distribution cap to 100,000 barrels, but it has been mired in the state’s General Assembly.

The battle between smaller brewers and distributors isn’t anything new, but the fierce independent streak of the beer makers in Charlotte means it might be a while before the city’s best beers gain a bigger regional presence.

“We won’t be able to go into Raleigh; we won’t be able to go into the Triad,” says Suzie Ford, co-founder of NoDA Brewing Co., viewed by many as Charlotte’s best brewery. “We will not be able to expand our presence into South Carolina. First and foremost we’re going to expand our focus in our backyard. … We’re currently on an account freeze. It make sense to take care of the businesses here first, because we are a Charlotte brewery.”

(NoDa, which is currently building a 32,000-square foot second brewing facility, expects to produce 15,000 barrels of beer this year.)

That satisfaction in being a city-centric brewer is something that’s widespread among the breweries I visited. Charlotte pride is strong – and while few would say no to universal success, they say they would vastly prefer to be the go-to beer of the city.

“I don’t think we have any plans to take over the world or nation with our beer,” says Jackie “JP” Parker, tap room manager at Birdsong Brewing Co. “Rather, we would like to be a destination point in Charlotte.”

For a lot of people, Charlotte is a layover city – and they rarely venture out of the airport. If you do find yourself with some extra time while in town, here are a few beers you should definitely seek out.

NoDa Hop Drop ‘N Roll – Can’t escape the airport? This winner of the 2014 World Beer Cup Gold Medal is available on several concourses – and it’s absolutely worth seeking out. Filled with a citrus-y, hopsy flavor that explodes on your tongue and a nice piney finish, this is a big beer that can hold its own against more well-known IPAs. (ABV: 7.2%)

The Olde Mecklenburg Copper Amber Ale – Amber beers can often carry a flavor that emphasizes caramel much too heavily. And just looking at Copper, you might expect it to fall in that category. Instead, it’s a crisp, refreshing ale that’s more biscuit than Werther’s candy. It’s malty with a very, very light hint of hops, with a smooth roasted quality that makes it quite drinkable. (ABV: 4.8%)

Sycamore Brewing Countryside IPA – Only available on tap, this is a tangy take on an IPA, with prominent grapefruit and tropical fruit notes. There’s a sweetness to it that’s enticing, but it still has a mild bitter bite at the finish, which is remarkably dry. (ABV: 6%)

Birdsong Brewing Higher Ground IPA – Birdsong has only canned one of its beers – its Jalepeno Pale Ale – but for me, this draft selection was the stronger choice. Piney and citrusy and supported wonderfully by the malt, it’s a medium-bodied beer that doesn’t rely on extras to stand out. (ABV: 7%)

Lenny Boy Tart de la Wit – A strong entry in the sour category, this witbier is fermented with South Carolina peaches. That fruity tanginess blends wonderfully with the wheat. And the hints of coriander are a wonderful addition. (ABV: 4.6%)

Think “craft beer” and hot spots like Bend, Oregon, Fort Collins, Colorado or pretty much all of Vermont come to mind. But down in North Carolina, Raleigh has been quietly carving out a top spot in the still growing craft beer industry. Things are not likely to remain quiet for long, however, because yesterday The Raleigh Beer Garden opened – with more beers on tap than any place on earth.

North Carolina’s capital city has gone beer mad: the greater Raleigh area boasts an impressive 21 breweries, plus lots of tap rooms and bottle shops. Beer centric activities include the Greater Raleigh Beer Trail, Trolley Pub Raleigh, and Beltline Brew Tours. The Courtyard by Marriott Midtown even offers a “Room with a Brew” package in conjunction with local Big Boss Brewing Company. But the Raleigh Beer Garden is likely to become the new face of the city’s thirsty tourism industry.
Raleigh Beer Garden Taps

Just a handful of the 366 taps offering the world’s largest variety of draft beer at the new Raleigh Beer Garden in North Carolina’s capital city.

The beer is flowing now, but not quite all the taps yet, and the Garden is in the red tape process of claiming its Guinness World Record (something I know more than a little about, having personally set new GWR benchmarks in skiing, golf and poker). The record will be for its staggering selection of 366 beers – all on draught from individual taps. An even twelve dozen (144) showcase North Carolina craft beers on ground level. If you can still make it up the stairs after trying a selection of those, you will find another 222 taps from across the country and around the world.

Just when you thought there was enough to drink, the three-story Beer Garden, with indoor/outdoor spaces, rooftop deck and patio, tacks on Spiritual, a high-end cocktail bar featuring locally distilled spirits. In the theme of keeping things as local as possible, tables and many of the bars throughout are made of wood from Pecan trees that stood on the bar’s site. In short, it sounds like a pretty awesome place. Since Clyde Cooper’s BBQ, specializing in hard to find classic Eastern Carolina-style whole hog cooking (since 1938), is on on my to-do list, it looks like now I’ll have someplace to go afterwards next time I visit Raleigh.

Beer drinkers across the country immediately interpreted it as a subtweeted cheap shot at “Hell or High Watermelon,” the fruity summer offering from San Francisco’s 21st Amendment Brewery. And they were not pleased.

It’s not readily apparent how Budweiser was hoping people would respond, but the situation soon took on the feel of a car crash/train wreck/interplanetary spacecraft collision/similarly sickening but morbidly entertaining catastrophe. Craft beer lovers took to Twitter in force, some merely declaring their love for 21st Amendment, others calling out the Belgian beer giant for attacking smaller breweries in desperation to sell their “mass-produced Horse Piss,” per one irate response.

The latest episode in Budweiser’s new effort to embrace its macro identity, the whole thing recalled their Super Bowl ad from earlier this year, in which the company called out brewers of pumpkin peach ale. Much to the Internet’s delight, it came out a few days later that AB InBev had recently purchased Elysian Brewing, who make a pumpkin peach ale. You’d think AB InBev would have taken a cue from all the bad press that followed (or their steadily declining U.S. sales volumes), but instead, they doubled down.

And the pro-watermelon camp gleefully pointed out the hypocrisy of Friday’s fighting words, given AB InBev’s other holdings:

The ongoing flurry of support made for some great advertising for 21st Amendment; so great, in fact, that it led some people to speculate that it could be a sign of a secret buy-out. Given that 21st makes a beer called “Brew Free or Die,” the idea of selling out seems less-than-likely.

And in fact, Shaun O’Sullivan, co-founder and brewmaster at 21st, confirmed to SF Weekly in an email that they have no intentions of selling to AB InBev.

As for the events of Friday afternoon, he wrote that, “It was a crazy thing that happened and great to see it galvanize the craft beer community.”

Unfortunately for Bud, the bad news didn’t stop there. A burger cook-off/Budweiser branding extravaganza they organized in St. Louis, where Anheuser-Busch originated, apparently left many attendees both pissed and hungry when there weren’t enough burgers for everyone who’d purchased tickets. Which, it seems, was sort of the point. Unsurprisingly, this too set off a stream of angry Internet rants for them to deal with, all of which must have the company’s social media team working overtime.

JD. There were a few entries to choose form this time, and I have to agree with those that voiced their opinion, for the Ladies and Mamas was the most well rounded beerporn. JD will get a #Beerporn Mug and a $30 gift card to a bar of his choice. I’m sure we’ll be seeing the mug in posts of his soon.